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Friday, December 30, 2016

Awh, it still hurts my heart to see photos of my dear Chena. This was taken on our way home from Alaska in 2010. She was an "only dog" that summer and she loved every minute of it! She was definitiely the belle of the ball where we were campground hosting inside Denali National Park. So many of our campers were in rented motorhomes, and had to leave their furbabies at home so they were happy to get a little doggie lovin' fix from Chena who was more than happy to provide that service!

Creative Embellishments has some great chippies to use with Graphic 45's new Nature Sketchbook collection. Here's a closeup of the Fern Foliage 4 I used. I colored them with Lindy's Gator Gumbo Olive.

I used the New Year 2017 Shaker Die Set to make this card. It comes with the dies you need to cut 2017 and Happy New Year as well as the fun shakers inside that say Happy New Year. Aren't they so cool? I also added in rhinestones for some sparkle.

I decided to go for the BIG Bang and added a Champagne Bottle Shaker too! I used some gold embossing paste behind the champagne shaker to add a little gold to the card. The inside of the bottle shaker is a gold glittery paper that unfortunately, did not photo very well. I used Cheery Lynn's champagne shakers inside the champagne bottle. These come in the Champagne Bottle Shaker Kit , but you can just buy the shaker pieces too.

I made the flowers with the Floral Bouquet Kit 8 Piece Die Set using 3 of the large flower diecuts and 2 of the smaller flower diecuts. Then I used Stickles to give the flowers lots of sparkle.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Echo Mountain Inn is so pretty all decked out with Christmas lights! The Inn is so warm and inviting and this picture really captures that feeling.

Are you wondering what this photo has to do with anything? Well, this is the site of Your Creative Mountain Retreat 2017 hosted by Graphic 45 designers, Maggi Harding (that's me!), Annette Green and Ginger Ropp. We've put together a package that includes 6 classes, meals and 3 nights in this charming Inn that was built in 1896. Visit the Your Creative Mountain Retreat 2017 blog to find out more about this event and how you can register on January 1, 2017.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Holiday traditions are the things that make us feel nostalgic. Sometimes those traditions evoke the feelings we had as children, you know the excitement of waiting for Santa! As a child I used to make a gingerbread house every year. Gosh I haven't done that in so long! This year, keeping in my paper crafter mode, I decided to construct a snowy winter scene. The house is two different Sizzix Alterations dies, the larger trees are Creative Embellishments chipboard and the beautiful blooms are Petaloo, of course! The small trees in the background are Sizzix Alterations diecuts.

I started out with a round canvas and spread lots of snow white TCW Modeling Paste (nice & thick) all over a round canvas. While the modeling paste was still wet, I embedded the little house and the trees. I made little triangular back stops for them so they would stand up straight.

I allowed that first thick coat of modeling paste to dry and then I added more modeling paste. I repeated this several times, until I was satisfied with the look of the snow. Then I took a narrow modeling paste trowel and added modeling paste to the house and the trees. I love Petaloo's glittered stars. Look closely and you will find red, green and white stars.

Then I sprayed it all over with siver Thermoweb Glitter Dust. That gave the snow a nice sparkly look.

After I was satisfied with the look of the snow platform and snow on the trees, I added Petaloo flowers and glittered stars.

I made the flower all snowy looking with white gesso, Aleene's Glitter Snow and Stickles to accent the flowers and leaves.

I made 3 different flowers for my layout. This one is made with the Black Eyed Susan Strip 5 Piece Die Set - B338. That's a great die because you cut 4 flower layers all at once. Then give them a little dimension by shaping the paper, then stack the layers and you have a pretty dimensional flower.

This flower is made with Judy's Blooms Die - C184. This set comes with two different sized blooms and I used both to layer up this flower. The sparkle was acheived with a silver Wink of Stella pen. I always like to add a little color to my leaves and I often use Lindy's mists for that purpose. I use the dabber caps on my mists and just dab on a bit of color. I used the Wreath Strip 7 Piece Die Set - B216 to add some pine boughs to my clusters. I just tucked the wreath pieces, that I colored with Lindy's Frosty Forest Green, around the flowers.

One more flower to share with you today! These I made with the Sweet Williams Die Set - D137. This set also comes with two sizes of blooms and I used both sizes. I put two large blooms on the bottom and then two of the smaller on top. I shaped these simple by inserting a petal in my tweezers and giving it a twist. That's a fast and simple way to give flowers some dimension. The shine on these blooms comes from a red Wink of Stella pen.

Friday, December 16, 2016

Oh let's change it up today! Back in the summer Authentique sent the Petaloo DT their Explore Collection Kit and I used it to make this fun vintage summer travel page. The plaid paper in the collection made a great bottom layer for my layout. I just inked and distressed several paper layers, added some white masking paste and paint and then topped it all with Petaloo's Darjeeling flowers. I love love love the Darjeeling collection of blooms! I used two different sized of flowers to make my clusters and tucked in some leaves that come with the smaller blooms. Then I lightly brushed on some watered down gesso.

I used some stickers and punched papers from the Explore collection to embellish my layout.

Try brushing some watered down white paint or gesso over your flowers. It gives an entirely different look that I think goes really well with vintage styling.

I made this tag shortly after learning of the death of Alda Stevens, the owner of the Flying Unicorn. Alda was a good friend and I had always intended to make something to send her with this wonderful unicorn chippie. That never happened, so I made this to remember her and to share with all of you that loved and cherished her friendship.

I used Graphic 45's Gilded Lily collection because I know that is a collection that Alda loved because it's blue and pink. You know that any unicorn for Alda would have to be pink so I used Stampendous Shabby Pink and Shabby white embossing enamel on the Unicorn.

The Grunge Heart Corner is a symbol for all of us that she left behind with heavy hearts because she is gone. I used chunky white embossing enamel and the chain is aged gold embossing enamel. The little cherub is a Prima resin.

As always, I have popped up layers to give the tag dimension. I finished the tag off with lots of pretty flowers, Alda would want that for sure! I used Petaloo Mixed Textured blooms and also fussy cut flowers from G45's design papers.

Monday, December 12, 2016

Aren't these just the cutest little things? They are Post-it note pad folios all dressed up with Graphic 45's new Nature Sketchbook collection. I think this collection is my new favorite! Oh the images are just so pretty and the colors so rich.

Follow along with my Snapguide tutorial to make these pretty folios. They are quick and sure to please the recipients.

Then, just add some flowers and leaves. This collection includes punch out flowers too! I am so thrilled to see the flowers back in the Graphic 45 collections. I just layered several flowers together to give my flowers dimension. I also used some diecut leaves that I cut with a Cheery Lynn die.

The inside is quickly finished with another cut-apart, some paper strips and letters. I used a little magnet set to keep the folio closed.

I used a 4" x 6" Post-it notepad. You could easily adapt this for a different size pad.

On this pad, I used a smaller cut-apart and some beautiful Petaloo blooms. Tie some jute or a ribbon around the folio for an even prettier presentation.

Under the flowers, there's some foliage that I diecut with a Sizzix die.

One of the papers in the collection has beautiful border strips that make trimming up the inside so easy. Here I've use 2 of the border strips, a cut-apart and a layer of paper to finish the inside.

This cover is simply a 4" x 6" cut-apart embellished with flowers.

A fussy cut butterfly, a Graphic 45 paper flower, and a couple of Petaloos adorn this cover. These images are sooo pretty, they really don't need much embellishing!

Supplies:

Graphic 45 Supplies:

Nature Sketchbook 12 x 12 Pad

Nature Sketchbook 1 2x 12
Patterns & Solids Pad

Nature Sketchbook Flowers

Nature Sketchbook letters or
any that coordinate with Nature Sketchbook

Saturday, December 10, 2016

A
European vacation and CityScapes were made for each other! Lucky for me, my brother and sister-in-law
went to Germany and Benelux this spring and I thought a mini for them would
be the perfect Christmas gift! Even more
fun for me is that a lot of their photos were of places I have been so it was a
walk down memory lane. We lived in Frankfurt, Germany
when I was teenager and my brother even had a photo of where we used to live!

Tip: Mini
album covers get a lot of wear and tear.
You can make them durable by using matte medium to adhere all your
papers and coat over the cover. If you
have dimensional fussy cut pieces of your covers, matte medium will give them
strength and help prevent tearing.

I used Petaloo canvas briar roses and textured blooms on the cover. I love the teal color with this collection.

Tip:Cover each page of your mini with a sheet of
paper first.Then you have the
"bones" of your mini done.Now
you can add layers, embellishments and photos to make each page unique. I purposely kept my pages simple and flat so that I could fit alot of pages in the mini.

This is the apartment we lived in and on the right page, is the elementary school that my younger brother attended.

Escape Kitty's blog

Graphic 45

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Creative Embellishments

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About Me

I suppose one can make the connection between scrapbooking and travel. After all, if one travels a lot, there usually are pictures begging to be scrapped. My husband and I retired a couple of years ago and wander the continent whenever possible in our motorhome. We've been from Key West, FL to Fairbanks, Alaska and from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean in our RV!
But you are probably wondering what "Bark" has to do with this. Currently we are owned by two standard poodles and we usually travel in our motorhome so that they can accompany us. We refer to the motorhome as the "Doghouse".
So, I scrap, we travel, the dogs bark. In 3 words, I have described to you much about who I am! I do always take scrappy supplies with me in the RV so that when the mood strikes, I am ready!
I hope you'll visit my blog often to see what I am up to and please leave me a message now and then so I'll know you were here!